Erastus brigham bigelow



brous stalks from their fibrous'part.

ing at once on the stalks in the direction of their' dusted gratte @sind@titi-rr.

, ERASTUS BRIGHAM BIGELOW, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

Letters Patent No. 101,089, dated March 22, 1870.

IMPRQVEMENT IN MACHINE FOR CR'USBING- RAMIE AND OTHER FIBRUUS STALKS.

The Schedule referred to in these Letters Patent and making part of thesame.

I, Ems'rns BRIGHAM Brennow, of Boston, in the county of Snolk andCommonwealth of Massachuchusetts, have invented Acertain Improvements inCrushing Ramie and other fibrous stalks, of which the following is aspeciiicat-ion. I

The object of my invention is to facilitate the pro# cess of separatingthegwood part of Raluie and other Instead of actlengtll, as heretoforedone, 1 first crush and separate them longitudinally, preparatory tobreaking their woody part transversely. A

v yThis I accomplish by means of crnshingrollers,be tween which thestalks. are passed sidewise, the distance between the rollers being suchas to compress the stalks, and, by the compressing action, force their.-

woody fibers asunder. After the woody fibers of the longitudinally theymay be easily broken transversely,

-and .removed from the textile bersby the usual processes of breakingand hackling hemp' and iiax.

After the stalks have been crushed andA separated longitudinally, asabove described, they may be immersed in a chemical bath, suitablyprepared, to free them from their natural gum, and then dried,preparatory to the breaking land hackling processes, or they may bedried, broken and hackled before being immersed in the bath.`

The crushing mechanism is represented by the accompanying drawings, inwhich- Eigurc'l is a front elevation thereof.-

Figure 2 is a plan. Figure 3 is a right-hand end elevation.

Figure 4 is a left-hand end elevation.

`Figure 5 is a transverse section taken on the line A B, drawn acrossiig. 2.

The frame of the machine consists of two upright standards a, supportedby four cross-girths b.

,The crushing-rollers, c, between which the 'stalks are passed, aregrouped in pairs,.,a nd connected by 4gears d.

` To facilitate the feeding in of the stalks, eachpair is arranged in ahorizontal plane, and one pair placed ably formed ,in the standards a,the speed of the lower pair being accelerated to take' u p the increased`width offthe stalks producedgby the compression of the upper pair.

They receive motion from the driving-sbatte, which carries along pinion,f, which engages with the gearwheels g and h, severally aiiixed to theaxes e, of their respective rollers c, the'gear-h being of less diameterthan the gear g, to accelerate the speed of the" lowerrollersfor thepurposes before explained.

The driving-shaft e is supported by stands l,and by a pulley, j,receives motion from a prime mover connected with the motive power.

A feeding apparatus is applied to the upper part of the machine, bywhich the stalks, marked k, are delivered in succession, sidewise, tothe crushing-rollers.

Two rollers, l and m, are supported at each end by stands o, Aaffixed to.the standards a, carry a series of bauds, p, which form an endlessieeding-apron. .A continuous rotary movement is imparted' to the endlessfeeding-apron by one of the crushing-rollers c through the action ofgears q and r, axed respectively to the axes of the rollers c and l.

The attendant spreads the stalks k side by side upon -aud across theendless feeding-apron just described, abutting-one end of the stalksagainst a guide-bar, s, to bring them into proper range with thecrushingllgollers, the' stalks and bands being supported by a tale, t. f

The stalks, as the endless feeding-apron revolves, are carried forwardto a position over the bite of the crushing-rollers, whence theydescend, in succession, by their own gravity, being guidedin theirdescent by guide-stands u and r, affixed respectively to the stands oand standards a. v I

To hold the stalks in position as theyadvance to the line of descent,and to canse them to drop as nearly parallel tothe crushing-rollers asmay be, a revolving holding-apron, composed of a series of bauds, x,carried by rollers y and z, is employed.

The holding-apronI is caused to move in harmony with the feeding-apronby gears aand b', respectively aiixed to the rollers l and z', thestalks being held between .the two aprons (as represented in thedrawings) until they are delivered between the guide-stands u and c,before mentioned, and to facilitate the entrance of the stalks betweenthe guidestands, their .upper ends are imbedded in recesses c'.

formedin the rollersl and y. l

The stalks, as they drop from the feeding apparatus, pass between theupper pair of rollers, by which they are partially crushed, and thendescend to the lower pair, by which the crushing is completed, the

y latter pair being placed nearer together than the former pair, inproportion to the increased crushing action required. 4

As' the partially-,crushed stalks descend from the upper to the lowerpair of rollers they are `guided in their descent by guide-bars d',aflixed tothe standards a, which guide-bars d', by having their upperedges incontact, or nearly in contact, with the surfaces of the upperrollers, (as represented in the drawings,) also serve as clear-ers toremove from the rollers the part-iallybrnsllcd stalks which may adhereto them.

. Bars j', similar to the bars df, just described, may be applied to thelower rollers (as represented in section in iig. 5) to clear od' thefully-crushed stalks, and

guide them in their descent to a moving endless apron, f, by which theymay be :conveyed to the chemical hath before mentioned, or deposited inheaps. It will be ohvius to persons acquainted withme'- chanics that myinvention 'may undergo many modi' iications without departing from itsdistinguishing p11'ncples,`as, for instance, the surfaces of the'crushing-`rollers may be smooth, as represented. in the drawl ings, orthey may be tinted, as may be most 'e`ective, and to increase theirdrawing action for separating the wood iibers-iof the stalks, the.surface of one of the rollers of 'each pair may be moved faster than-thel surface of the other roller.

' The number of 'pairs of rollers to be used may also be varied,according to thecondition and requirements of the stalks to be crushed,and the bearings in which theyfrevolve may be` made adjustable.. Whentwo,

three, ,or more pairs are-required, the rollers of each 'succeeding pairshould-be placed nearer together and 'driven faster than the precedingpair. l

y Instead, also, of'- rollersworking in pairs, as above described, oneroller may be used,anda stationary guard or shell substituted for theother roller, as represented in section in iig. '6, the stalks k beingcompressed and drawn apart between the stationary guard' or' shell g'and miler c. t s I Instead, also, of the feeding land holding-aprons,above described, forl delivering' the stalks -k in succession,sidewise', to the crushing-rollers, ,endless chains,

with: guide-pins, may'. be substituted, as represented V in iig,`.7,-the'st salksvheing placed across the endless,

chains lr',betweenVV the guide-pins i', -andilcarried 'forward anddelivered between the guidestands u and v, by which they are guided tothe bite of the crushing-rollers. x l

Having described my-invention, and pointed ont some of the modificationsof which it is susceptiblev withont departing from its distinguishingprinciples What I claim-as new therein, and desire to secure by LettersPatent, is-

j 1,'1he feeding mechanism herein for re' c eiving and delivering in`succession the stalks to the crushing-rollers sidewise, substantiallyas specified. l

.Ialso claim, in combinationl with the iirst pair of the series of pairsof rollers forcrushin'g' Bamie and glimmendspecified.`

I also claim, in combination vwith two or more pairs of.crushing-rollers, arranged as herein described, guide-bars for clearingthe stalks from the rollers and guiding them from one` of the `series tothe next succeeding series, subtantially as specied.`

, V EBASTUS B. BIGELOW. A

Witnesses:

HERBEBTT. WHITMAN, DANIEL P. Norms.

of .the gearing of dierent diameters or speed, as

